Hello Hikago!!!

arboretum: what the hell people, he's not a rock star, he's a Go probookshop: i love that people honestly think that white suits and a red sports car are STYLIN' MOVESarboretum: ROFL I KNOWbookshop: and not just INSANE GEEK TASTE TAKEN TO HORRID UNCHECKED EXTREMESarboretum: I KNOW I KNOW I KNOWbookshop: THE MAN OWNS FISHarboretum: GOD EXACTLY THAT'S ALL HE OWNSbookshop: well he also is a PIMPbookshop: so you know, he owns an escort club and a line of high-end hookersarboretum: duhhh. everyone who drives a red sports car owns an escort club and a line of high-end hookers.arboretum: that's what red sports cars MEAN

I have been biting back the Hikago bug all month long, but I just can't fight it. It's one week shy of a year since my Top 5 Meme (my favorite LJ post ever), and a few months shy of 3 years since I first watched Hikago, and my love for this show has only grown over time. I want to fly a flag out my window that says THIS IS MY FAVORITE THING ON EARTH.

So, I started to make a new Hikago meme, but that led to making a quick intro as a catch-up for anyone new reading this. Which is when I realized that I had made 3 separate Hikago pimp posts over the years and they all pretty much sucked. SO I wound up massively overhauling them all and putting them all together. The result?

It's an Epic 3-part board game opera spanning 2 years, about a Haunting, an Eternal Rivalry, True Love, Obsession, and the dorkiest boys on the planet ♥

No, seriously, it's an ~*EPIC*~.Aren't you blown away yet by how hot epic it all is?

It's so ~*Epic*~ it deserves its own mini-top 5 list about how Epic it is!!!!!!1. EPIC HAIR.

2. EPIC HAUNTING.

3. EPIC GAY.

4. EPIC FASHION.

5. EPIC BOARD GAMES.

It has the single most compelling OTP of any canon ever. The ship is intense, deep, brave, heartbreaking, strong, and ultimately unobjectionable. This ship is sanctified by canon.

tl__dr: Dude, I love how they are the Brangelina of the Go world. NOBODY EVER STOPS TALKING ABOUT THEM. Everybody around them works so hard to set them up! "WOW, MAYBE THEY REALLY ARE RIVALS!" "GOSH, IF SHINDOU IS TOUYA'S RIVAL, THE GO WORLD WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!" "SHINDOU, I THINK TOUYA WAS LOOKING AT YOU IN A RIVALISH WAY, I JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW THAT. HEY HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?" THEY ARE EVERYONE'S FAVORITE DYSFUNCTIONAL PUBLIC ITEM.

(Note Hikaru usually does not look this dorky, even though he is.)

If they were not underage, this series would have included an illegal gay Japanese wedding, and it would have been attended by the entire Go Institute and covered by large media outlets, and then Hikaru and Akira would have been like screw this, we're going to Hawaii, we already have the shirts, like they did in sutlers' fic, and then they would have ELOPED and spent their ENTIRE HONEYMOON INDOORS HAVING GO. YEAH.

In all seriousness: Hikago canon is an epic slashfic without the slash. It's got canonical acknowledgment without being fanservice: it deals straightforwardly with its pairing and does not bother to ask whether this is gay, slashy, subtextual, or metaphoric, because love is love, and Hikaru and Akira are soulmates. Even in fandom, which is usually so divisive, everyone seems to agree that even if you don't pair them together, the last thing you ever want to do is split them apart. ♥

Takeshi Obata (*fangirls*) as mangaka means: all the supernatural yay, stunning artwork, rival tension, gay gay fanservice, blatant fanboy worship of his own characters, and sexual sparks of Death Note, WITHOUT ALL THE EPIC SUCK.

4. The manga is fast-paced, identical to the anime, and incredibly easy to re-read, and is on my Desert Island shortlist of favorite books of all time.

It's seriously like a beautiful modernized fairy tale about a board game and the people who play it. And I realize I haven't actually told you what it's about beyond "gay boys and ghosts and board games," but that's because it's TOO GOOD TO SPOIL. SERIOUSLY.

5. It is tied with Nobuta as the single most moving depiction of human connections, and the ways in which we touch each other throughout our lives and beyond, that I've ever read/seen in my life - with a deep complexity and thick layers of meaning that you can return to again and again. And if you loved Nobuta wo Produce, you will ultimately love Hikago for all the exact same reasons.

ETAAbout Board Games: So you're thinking, 'it's about a board game....' and I'm saying "BUT IT'S NOT REALLY, IT'S OKAY!" And it isn't really about Go. I'm really not saying that anything in this show trumps the game, because it doesn't. i LOVE GO. I love their love for Go. It's amazing and epic and incredible and metaphoric. I'm not in *any way* diminishing Go in this series. NEVER. but if you're thinking 'how could a show about a board game ever be interesting,' then this is me telling you that it's NOT ABOUT THE BOARD GAME. not at ALL. it is about human relationships and amazing characters and the BEST PLOT EVER. EVER. EVER. and it is about Go. But the other stuff will carry you along, whether or not you know/like/care about the game. Most fans only learn how to play Go after they start watching, if they learn at all. The game itself is ultimately secondary to (and a profound metaphor for) the story itself.

You have not watched the whole show first. It's too easy to be spoiled for the big series spoiler.

You haven't read the manga. Okay, there's no real reason here, I just want you to read the manga, especially the last arc, BECAUSE IT IS MY FAVORITE AND IT'S NOT IN THE ANIME and you'll hate me but then you'll realize that you don't hate me, you actually love me, and you'll love Hikago even more, I PROMISE.

Top 5 Places for Fic:

1. My fic recs in my Memories.2. toko's Frankenpost, which basically hits the high points and covers all aspects of the fandom3. the Hikago tag on delicious. Which you should all be contributing to, because I this fandom always, always needs more love/fic/etc.4. best_of_hikago - sadly no longer updated, but if you need to read ravenously without a terribly high quality filter, it is the place to go. i love that journal, i wish it were still active. :(5. issen4 - she recs more frequently than anybody else in the fandom. Not always as vetted for quality as toko's recs, but very reliable and routinely updated.

Top 5 Fandom communities:

1. blind_go - the archives will have a ton of stuff of variable quality; kifu_archive - for blind_go fans between and during rounds2. ihikago - for podficcing and love!3. hikarunogo - the general Hikago fan community4. igo_yaoi - for Hikago slash fic5. hikago_djs - for Hikago doujinshi. SO MUCH DOUJINSHI. *_*

1. thehoyden - best Akira/Hikaru in the fandom. ♥2. mousapelli - best Akira/Hikaru/Go in the fandom. ♥3. toko - for multi-pairings and shameless Waya love and "Adulthood" **Note: insane angst warning here, I mean it** eta: IF YOU ARE NEW TO FANDOM DON'T READ THIS FIC FIRST I MEAN IT I WILL BRAIN YOU WITH A GOKE.4. flonnebonne for gen, humor, and fantastic character insights - and don't miss the Go God Rap!5. arboretum, who will kill me for putting her on this list, but I basically can't resist, because even the things she writes and hides away are minor miracles, and "Flowers and Go""A Resolution of Territory" and its sequel are the best thing in fandom. ♥

TOP 5 THINGS I'LL KICK MYSELF LATER FOR NOT PUTTING IN THIS POST:1. Touya Akira is pretty much my favorite fictional character ever. :( He just breaks my heart and I can't even tell you why I love him so much. He's just so very real to me, and I adore him.

2. You don't have to know the first thing about Go to like this story or follow it easily because it's not about the board game at all - it's about the characters, and the pursuit of a goal and a shared dream. It's amazing. :(3. Oh! My fics are In my memories if anyone wants to read them - they're also tagged under "fic" and "hikago" on my lj.4. There's not a whole lot of meta for this fandom, but I do think there's a bit either in or linked from my journal under the hikago tag, or memoried under my Hikago discussion post.5. That the Hikago fandom is basically the nicest and most fun and sweeet and generally kind and gracious fandom I've ever been in. Everyone and everything about it is just lovely, down to the last lurker and the last stone in the goke. I love you all v. much.</div>

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Aja: fujiwaranoPSYCHE!

P.S. Everyone please right now go look at this picture and comment with your thoughts on Touya's growth and development. as a player. of Go.P.P.S. Will everyone please tell kishmet why she should watch this show right now? SHE THINKS I HAVEN'T PIMPED IT HARD ENOUGH, SO I AM TURNING IT OVER TO YOU GUYS.p.p.s to toko: YES I AM SHUT UP